Cattle guard



July 31, 1928.

- 1,678,926 F. S. WALTON ET AL CATTLE GUARD Filed April 30, 1926 Patented July 31, 1928.

I UNITEDSTATES' PATENT- QFFlCE FREDERICK STANLEY WALTON AND JOHN MCKENZIE, F SMITHERS, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA.

CATTLE GUARD.

Application fi1ed.Apri1 30, 1926. Serial No. 105,841.

Our invention relates to improvements in cattle guards, and the object of the inventlon is to devise a simple construction of guard which may be easily installed, which is, read ii ily adapted to be applied to tracks of any width or any number of tracks, which will be cheap, which will be safe, making it practically impossible for any animal to be caught fast in it, which will not form any Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail of the centre portion of one of the slat members forming our cattle guard.

Fig. 4 is a sectional View through Flgure Fig. 5 is a detail View of the securing staple.

ing the means of mounting one of the slats on a supporting, tie.

In the drawing like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure. I

1 and' 2 indicate the track rails and 3 the ballast. 4 are the ties, 4* being a tie in close proximity to the crossing and 4 the tie next remote from the crossing. A supplemental tie 4 is placed beneath the usual tie 4;". The tie 4 is bevelled oil as indicated at 4 Between. the ties 4* and 4 an excavation is formed as indicated at 5, the bottom of the excavation sloping downward on a line with the bevelled portion 4 of the tie 4.

6 are aseries of slats pivotally mounted on the tie- 4 so that one port-ion thereof extends over the excavation 5 and the other portion extends outward from the excava- Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional detail showtion so as to normally rest upon the track to. ties. Each slat is provided in its centre with a pair of orifices 7 the end walls of which converge downwardly and inwardly as indicated at 8 and 9. 10 is a reinforcing metal plate having orifices therein corresponding to the orifices 7 and having its end edges turned downward against the side edges of the slat so as to be secured by means of nails 12 or by any other suitable means.

13 is a staple, the spike members of which so extend down through the orifices 7 so as to be driven into the tie 4 adjacent to the bev-' elled portion 4 The staple 13 is spikedv down only a suflicient distance to secure the slat in place without interfering with its '65 freedom of movement in a vertical plane.

The slats 6 extend longitudinally of the track parallel one with the other so as to extend between the track rails and the fence at each side of the trackway. I 4

By this means should an animal attempt to pass down the track it will step upon one of the slats 6 extending over the excavation 5 thereby depressing that end of the slat and tilting the opposite end up in an inclined direction forming an effectual obstruction to its passage down the track.

As soon as the animals foot is removed from the slat it will fall back to its normal position, the slat being so balanced as to be heavier at its outer end, which when relieved of the weight of the animals foot will fall to the horizontal position thereby again leaving the track open. Should any slat for any reason stick in the upwardly inclined position very little harm will accrue therefrom as the train passing over the trackway will merely break off that particular slat. Y

From this description it will be seen that we have devised a very'simple, cheap, easily installed cattle guard which'is not liable to get out of order, and which is readily adaptable to a track of any width.

lVhat we claim as our invention is:

1. In a cattle guard, the combination with the rails of a trackway and the ties extending thereunder with an excavation formed between two ofsuch ties, of a plurality of parallel slats each having a pair of orifices in the centre portion thereof, and a staple bridging that portion of the slat between the orifices thereof, and a vertical portion of the staple extending part way'through each orifice into the underlying tie.

2. In a cattle guard, the combination with the rails of a trackway and the ties extendp ing thereunder with an excavation formed 10 between two of such ties, of a plurality of parallel slats each having a pair of orifices and a staple bridging that portion of the slat and plate between the orifices, and a vertical portion of the staple extending part way through each orifice of the slat and late and into the underlying tie.

FREDERICK STANLEY WALTON. JOHN MCKENZIE. 1 

